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Dec
23
The Head Pat and the Belly Rub
Filed Under Uncategorized
Remember when you were in grade school and someone told you to pat your head with one hand and rub your belly with the other? It was difficult at first. You either rubbed both your head and belly at the same time or vice versa, but once you got the hang of it it was pretty easy.
In jiu-jitsu it is very important to be able to do two entirely different things at once. You must be able to use your upper body and lower body at the same time. When your upper body is patting, your lower body should be rubbing.
When you are on your back and you have someone in your guard, they may be trying to use “squeeze the bread” (thrusting choke, a choke with the collar) so you must defend with your hands, but at the same time you should be attacking with your legs. You should at the very least be trying to compromise your opponent’s base. You must pat your head and rub your belly at the same time; it’s crucial to your game.
A rule of thumb might be, if you’re defending with your hands you should be attacking with your legs, and if you’re attacking with your hands (a collar choke for example) you should be defending with your legs (putting in hooks, or just holding your opponent in your guard). You must work on doing a least two things at once.
It really is like patting your head and rubbing your belly and with practice it will seem very natural.
